Virtual Reality
by XxTheShadowGirlxX
Summary: Rage sees a big red button while playing Chivalry,presses it, then all hell breaks loose and the crew is plunged into virtual reality, a place where the evil Timothy reigns supreme. A group called the Rebels strive to put an end to it-for good. Little do they know, a traitor is in their midst. Will they find out who it is before its too late? (Rated for language. Reviews welcome)
1. Shadow, Kira, Celty and the Rebels

"Ow! You stabbed my dick!" Rage shouted.

"Ugh, might wanna wash that sword now." Evanz said.

"Actually, you don't have to." Hollow smiled with mirth. "There's nothing there."

"What are you implying?" Rage countered.

"Nancy girl." Hollow said with a smirk.

"Oh no you didn't... douche."

"Shut up Nancy girl."

"Douche."

"Nancy girl."

"Douche!"

"Nancy girl."

"DOU-"

"Um guys." Interrupted Fluke. This was never here before." They were playing Chivalry and had played this map many times. Fluke was right. The cave that was in front of them now hadn't been there before.

"Should we go check it out?" Rage asked.

"Why not?" Said Evanz. So in the cave they went.

Inside the cave was surprisingly well lit. It didn't look very natural as the center of the cave was perfectly circular, the walls smooth. In the center of the circle was big, red button. Rage, always too curious, immediately went to go press it but Hollow stepped forward to stop him.

"Aw come on man. I wanna see what it does." Rage whined.

"Have you never read books or watched cartoons mate? Nothing good ever happens when you press a big red button."

"Dude, you're overreacting. This is just a game." And with that Rage sidestepped Hollow and strode over to press the button. He pressed it. Nothing happened.

"See?" Rage said smugly. "Nothing is going to-" he broke off abruptly as he felt something sucking at him, pulling him out of his looked behind him and saw... a swirling mass of nothing. He didn't have time to scream when he was sucked in.

When the wind died down, he was lying face first in soft grass. He rolled over onto his back then sat up and froze. This must be a dream. No matter how much he repeated this to himself, he didn't believe it. This was too real. What he was looking at resembled the Chivalry map he had just been playing. He looked around and saw Fluke, Evanz, and Hollow. Hollow noticed him and strode over, a look of barely concealed anger on his face.

"Nothing's gonna happen?! You fucking TWAT!" Nope, definitely not a dream.

"Well how was I supposed to know that we would be teleported?!" Rage complained and Hollow gave him a look of contempt. By this time, Fluke and Evanz had come over. Fluke looked around in awe.

"I'm not the only one that thinks this looks like Chivalry, right?"

"Nope." The other three agreed in unison. Just as this was said, they heard the clang of swords and "For Agatha!" being shouted in the distance.

"No way." Evanz said. Then all hell broke loose.

Five people in bloodied swords and armor appeared on top of a distant hill. They spotted the group and started towards them. Something about their movements made it clear they weren't coming for a friendly chat.

"They don't look friendly." said Fluke.

"I wonder what gave you gave that idea. Was it the bloody swords?" said Rage, the sarcasm practically dripping off his words. Fluke just glared at him.

"Why do they have armor and we don't?" stated Hollow.

"How would we know, we just got here!" said Rage.

"I didn't ask you, Nancy girl." Rage glared at him and was about to make an angry retort but Evanz interrupted.

"Are you guys gonna stand there arguing all day, or are we gonna do something? They're getting closer." And they were. All of them were male, with big muscles and scarred, unfriendly faces except for one who looked about 15. He looked a lot nicer than the rest. They should have run, but it was too late now. They were surrounded. The biggest one of the group positioned himself in front Rage who tried not to flinch, but the bigger guy saw it. A slow, creepy smile spread across his scarred face.

"Well boys, what have we here." The big dude drawled. He had crooked teeth and his breath stank. It was impossible to tell the colour of his skin or hair as he was very dirty.

"Dude, do you know what a shower is?" Rage said and Hollow shot him a warning look, but the big dude just smiled.

"I think we should kill these Greenies." the big guy said.

"But Duke."said the smaller boy. "If you kill them, the other Hacks will see you as a coward who kills unarmed Greenies. They will think you are not a good fighter." The bigger guy- Duke scratched his chin.

"You have a point Shrimp." Rage should've kept his mouth shut, but you know him. That's near impossible.

"You're letting him tell you what to do?" Hollow facepalmed, Evanz sighed and Fluke said "We're sooo dead." Duke narrowed his eyes at Rage who swallowed nervously.

"I don't tolerate loudmouths like you. No one insults Duke." _What kind of doofus talks about himself in third person?_ Rage thought to himself. Duke's eyes narrowed even further as if reading Rage's mind.

"Kill him, kill him!" Chanted his cohorts. The boy Duke called Shrimp shuffled nervously. That's what it looked like to everyone else but he was in fact, hiding a small device with a button.

"Alright, alright!" Duke said."We kill the loudmouth then take the rest as scavengers." Duke smiled and drew his sword.

"See this loudmouth? This-" he said showing Rage the blade "is your death." Rage shut his eyes as Duke swung the blade in a deadly ark.

There was a clang of metal on metal and suddenly the blade wasn't in Duke's hand anymore. He looked at his hand, confused. When he looked up, he saw a girl about 15 with long blackish hair and brown eyes that were very angry at the moment. Beside her stood two other younger girls, one blue eyed blonde, the other a green eyed brunette. The older one who was in charge by looks of it, pointed her sword at Duke who flinched. Why was he so scared of these little girls?

"Do you have a reason to be in our territory Duke?" she said, a dangerous edge to her voice.

"You see, we were walking around-"

"Looting?" Suggested the blonde. Duke shifted nervously.

"Um, yeah." the black haired girl's eyes sparked.

"Continue." she said in a bored voice.

"And we saw these guys. We honestly just came here to check and see if they were ok-" the brunette gave a short laugh.

"Yeah, and the sky is green, I'm a boy, and the world is a square." the other two girls snorted, trying not to laugh. This succeeded in making Duke even more nervous.

"Then loudmouth over here-" he gestured at Rage "starting insulting me." The black haired girl gave Rage a look.

"You let this Greenie make fun of you?" she said, her eyes sparkling. She turned back to Rage.

"So what did you say to him?"

"I asked him if he knew what a shower was." the girl shook her head, smiling. She gave Duke a look of contempt.

"You" she pointed at him with her sword. "Get lost." Duke stood there, uncertain. The girl raised her eyebrows.

"Do I really have to count to ten like your mum would when she was mad?" Duke blushed and he and his gang left.

"We handled them quite nicely." said the dark haired girl.

"If you don't mind me asking" said Fluke " who are you?" The girl smiled.

"I am Shadow" she said. She introduced the brunette as Celty and the blonde as Kira.

"I'm-" Rage started to introduce himself, but Shadow interrupted.

"We know who you are." she pointed to each one as she said their names.

"Fluke, Evanz, Hollow and Rage."

"Why am I last?" complained Rage. Everyone just ignored him.

"How do you know us?" Asked Fluke.

"Duh, YouTube." Was the answer.

"Thank you for saving us and all, but where the hell are we, what's happening, and can we get out?" asked Evanz.

"So many questions." said Shadow with a chuckle.

"Are we going to bring them back to the camp?" asked Celty.

"Why not? It's not they can really do anything without weapons." said Shadow.

"Actually, Rage's puns can be quite deadly." said Hollow, smirking at Rage. For once, Rage didn't have a comeback ready.

"I like the way you handle Rage." said Shadow to Hollow, smiling. Rage just looked irritated, but "Can we start walking? It's getting dark." was all he said.

They walked for a good 20 minutes, though it seemed a lot longer with Rage complaining every second.

"My feet hurt."

"I'm thirsty."

"Are we there yet?" After about a good 10 minutes of this, Shadow's patience was worn so thin, that she stopped, marched up to him and said " You're welcome to stay here instead of coming to camp with us, but be warned, not everyone is as nice as we are. I wager you'll be dead in 5 minutes."

"Um, I think I'd rather come with you." said Rage.

"Then shut up and walk." she returned to the front of their procession and continued to lead the way.

By the time they reached camp, everyone was exhausted (mentally because of Rage's complaining) and they were also hungry. The camp wasn't that big, around 10 tents were scattered around. There was no one in sight.

"Where is everyone?" wondered Evanz.

"There was a disturbance at the east border." said Kira.

"A disturbance in what? The force?" said Rage. Shadow almost laughed.

"No. A large creature was spotted" corrected Celty.

"There are no large creatures in Chivalry." said Hollow.

"I know." said Shadow. "The mutations are getting worse. Before you say anything, I'll explain what's going on then you ask questions when I'm finished, ok? In here." She said holding the flap to the biggest tent open. They piled inside. Kira and Celty offered to stand guard because it would be to crowded inside. Shadow handed out food to the starving boys and the two standing guard.

"So the guy who made this virtual reality is named Timothy. I don't know why he made it. He spoke to the first of us who were trapped. I wasn't actually there when this happened, but the leader of our group DynamoTom was. This what he told me. 'We were standing there, at that time there was only around 10 of us. He said we had to serve him, do what he said.' I suspect there is more that Tom isn't telling me, but that is his call. Back then, the virtual reality wasn't as complex as it is now. It was only one game, one limited map. Now it switches between multiple games like Minecraft and Mario Kart, the land going for miles in each direction. Some people didn't like serving under Timothy's rule and they wanted to escape. They made a group called the Rebels, which is us." she said proudly. "We are still looking for a way out, but mutations of games are happening. It was just monsters at first, but now the Virtual Realty can read your thoughts and sense your worst fears. Then it kills you with that fear." Shadow shuddered. " We lost 5 people. That leads me to what happens to what happens when you die. You have 4 lives in total. If you loose one, you only have 3 not just for the game you're on at the time, but also for all other games. If you loose all four-god knows what happens, but it can't be good. Tom thinks you disappear in real life but let's hope none of us ever find out. Any questions?"

"What are Geeenies?" asked Rage.

"Newbies to the virtual reality."

"Are there any other groups?" asked Fluke.

"There's the Loyals, the Norms and the Hacks. The Loyals are loyal to Timothy obviously. They stay in some hidden village thing he made for them. They come out sometimes, and they're very deadly. So if you see one, you're dead. The Norm are self explanitory. theyre nothin special. Duke and the others you met today are the Norms. As for the Hacks, it's exactly what it sounds like. They know how to hack the Virual Reality to get things like medkits and food. So needless to say, everyone wants them. We actually have one who is part of the Rebels." Kira stuck her head in the tent.

"They're back." she said. She looked at the guys. "Someone want to talk to you guys." The boys looked confused. Then a familiar looking face appeard in the doorway. He had red hair tied in a ponytail and a full red beard.

"Gubiak?!" said Rage, not believing his eyes.

"Actually here it's Gubi-Hack." He turned to Shadow "Tom is holding a meeting." Shadow got up and dusted off her pants.

"You're sleeping in here. You'll meet some of our group tomorrow." And with that she was gone.


	2. EndlessCartoon and the Deadly Dummy

Shadow, Kira and Celty headed over to Tom's tent where he was waiting outside. His face was grim and there was blood in his trench coat. He was repairing his robotic arm. No one knew what happened to his arm, and no one had the courage to ask. He looked up.

"You called us Tom?" prompted Kira.

"Yes"he said"I found a Loyal by the border. We managed to get some information out of him before he ate the cyanide pill." Tom looked disgusted. "It was quite a messy affair, but we now know the approximate location of Timothy's lair. Once there, if we knock his system offline or overload it, the virtual reality will be broken. We need someone's help though. His name is-" but they never found out his name because a loud crash along with some swearing was heard coming from the forest off to their right. They looked at one and other and drew their swords.

Shrimp was sitting at the base of a massive oak, its leaves rustling in the wind. He had set up the camera and thought he was doing good until Timothy yelled at him because he had forgotten to set up the audio. He sighed. He often wondered why Timothy had wanted him. He was so clumsy and hardly did anything right, but that might be the reason. People saw him as stupid, so they wouldn't suspect him. He had been ordered to infiltrate the Rebels and a plan was being devised at this very moment. He was not helping though, because he was a 'clumsy, stupid and naive fool'. There. He thought. All finished. He moved to sidestep the camera, but ended up tripping over a root. He realized with horror was was going to happen, and tried unsuccessfully to prevent it. He threw himself to the side, but he still hit the camera on the way down, making a loud crashing sound. There was no way they didn't hear that. He barely had time to conceal the broken device when the undergrowth parted and the four most powerful Rebels were standing in front of him.

Shadow blinked in surprise, and it wasn't easy to surprise her. What she saw was not a rogue Hack or a terrifying monster, but the boy that had been with Duke. He held up his hands in surrender.

"I'm unarmed" he said. Tom looked him over. He was skinny, with messy brown and wary green eyes. Tom smirked.

"Doesn't even look like you can hold a sword anyway." The kid looked taken aback. Shadow narrowed her eyes.

"I know you. You were with Duke. Shrimp right?"

"I hate that nickname." Was all he said. Kira looked suspicious.

"Did Duke send you to spy on us?"

"No, he's not that smart." Shrimp took a deep breath. "I was the one who summoned you guys to help save those Greenies." Tom raised his eyebrows at Shadow who frowned.

"Is this true?" he asked her.

"I got a distress signal from the south border where the guys were, but the guards were nowhere in sight." Shrimp shifted uncomfortably. Tom gave him a sharp look that made him wince.

"You hiding something?" Tom inquired.

"No it's just.. Duke killed them. The guards. Duke killed them for their food." He looked disgusted."I didn't want them too, but-" he swallowed. "I noticed one guard had something in his hand. A little device with a button. I assumed it was to summon reinforcements, so I took it. I didn't want them to kill anyone else. When they found those Greenies, I knew that Duke would kill them. Just for the fun of it." Even though his story was convincing, Tom still looked suspicious.

"And you are here because..."

"They found me out. I heard them talking, that were planning to kill me while I was sleeping. So I ran. I think there's a bounty on my head now."

"I suppose you're looking for asylum then." said Celty. Everyone looked at Tom who threw his hands up in the air in exasperation. Shadow was amused to note that yellow sparks flew from his robotic fingers which he hadn't finished repairing.

"I still don't trust him, so put guard outside his tent, ok?" _Timothy was right._ Thought Shrimp. His naiveness made him the perfect weapon.

"Wake up Rage!" said an overly cheerful voice. "It's morning!" Rage groaned.

"It's not normal to be that excited in the morning. Maybe you have a medical condition." Shadow ignored this and put her hands on her hips.

"Do I have to drag you out of bed? Your other friends had no problem getting up." Rage looked around him. It was true. He was the only one left in the tent. With a sigh, Rage got up to see what today would bring.

After he had eaten alone (everyone else had finished ages ago) he was directed to the main tent where everyone else was waiting. Along with his companions was Shadow and an other man. He had short brown hair, a slight beard and eyes that were gray and another colour, though it was hard to tell what it was. He was dressed in a long black trench coat and at first Rage thought the was holding and repairing a gun, but then realized he had a robotic arm and was fixing the fingers.

"There" said the man, wiggling the metallic fingers. He set a screwdriver down on a table in the middle of the tent where everyone was seated. "That's better." He looked up, noticing Rage for the first time. Fluke pointed to an empty seat next to him and Rage sat. "So you must be Rage." inquired the man holding out (thankfully) his non robotic arm. His gray eyes sparkled with intelligence. "I'm the leader of the Rebels, Tom." Rage shook his hand.

"We were just discussing what we plan to do. We know how to get out of here, but getting to place is a whole different story." said Shadow, raking her fingers through her long black hair. "There's growing fear that an attack on the Rebel camp is being planned, and it is not wise to leave four untrained Greenies here. So, you have a decision to make. I along with Celty, Kira and about two other Rebels will be going to Timothy's lair to attempt to shutdown the virtual reality. You will receive basic training and can either come with us, stay at camp or go out on your own though I don't advise the last one. You don't have to make a decision now, but by the end of today." Celty stuck her head into the tent.

"The looters are back." she said. "Today was good day. There were no casualties. I have to say, it was mostly because of Endless. She walked into a store that was being looted by Duke and scared the hell out of him by telling him he forgot to check the cabinets. He dropped his bags and ran so fast. Now he's probably babbling about talking cats." Celty, looking very amused, left to go help sort the loot. An ocelot slunk into the room and jumped on Tom's lap. She had green eyes bursting with curiosity, intelligence and excitement. She also had a blue ninja headband.

"Did ya hear what happened Tom?" she asked excitedly. Not waiting for an answer, she continued talking. "He was soo scared! He ran like he was on fire! It was the greatest thing EVER!"

"Since sliced bread?" asked Tom jokingly.

"Hell yea!" Was the reply. Shadow looked at the boys who had their mouths open in shock and couldn't help laughing.

"What, never seen a talking ocelot before?" she teased.

"Oh, how rude of me not to introduce myself!" exclaimed the ocelot. She jumped gracefully onto the table and sat. "I am EndlessCartoon, though you can just call me Endless. I had gotten the name because I loved drawing, but then I got turned into an ocelot. It's a long story, but it involved Scribblenauts. I almost died after but Tom saved me." she smiled at her friend.

"Well,that makes a lot of sense." said Rage. "Don't the games go through a cycle? Scribblenauts should comeback, right?" Endless looked a little sad.

"No. Timothy erased it from the list of games because too many people became either too powerful, or escaped the virtual reality entirely. I don't mind being a talking ocelot though. Oh by the way" she said turning to Tom and Shadow. "Kira wants you to know that everything had been set up for their training." she looked at the boys. "Good luck guys. You're going to need it. The Deadly Dummy has no mercy."

Shadow watched Rage train with growing despair. The dummy shot another tennis ball at him and he tried to dodge it, but it still hit his shoulder with a loud thump.

"Ow!" he yelled as tennis balls weren't known to be soft.

"Well then, dodge it next time!" was the reply. Rage glared at Shadow.

"Aren't you supposed to be teaching me?"

"No, this is just a test to see where you're at. I'll have to search for a patient teacher to deal with you and your attitude. Or maybe all you need is harsh discipline." Shadow grinned and Fluke snickered.

"So why couldn't I do the survival testing first?" Rage complained. "This dummy is ridiculous!"

"Endless warned you, and what was it that you said?"

"Oh, come on, you can't-" Rage stopped when Shadow sent him a look that could freeze the sun.

"You had said 'Oh come on, how much damage can a rusting lump of metal do? I bet it won't even turn on.' So stop complaining, and try to dodge those tennis balls."

"Why do they have to be tennis balls? Can't you load it with something else?" Shadow grinned.

"There's special throwing knives if you want..."

"Um, no thanks." After about 10 minutes of complaining, swearing, and bad puns, Shadow sent him off to go work with a more patient instructor while she tested Fluke. He was a lot easier to work with, and could actually dodge the balls.

Meanwhile, things at the survival testing went going so hot either.

"Dammit, we keep going in circles! We passed this tree like, 10 times!" Evanz glared at the map he was holding.

"Let me see the map." Hollow put his bags down and strode over to Evanz. He gave the map one look and started laughing.

"What?" Asked Evanz

"Dude, you're holding the map upside down!" Celty and Kira who were tasked with following them (only allowed to help for emergencies like a missing arm or terrifying monster) both started laughing. Evanz looked at them.

"You guys totally knew that."

"Yes but were not allowed to help you." said Kira for the umpteenth time.

"We also wanted to see when you'd notice." admitted Celty. Suddenly, the sky above them rumbled. The boys looked up and noticed big, dark clouds.

"It's gonna rain." Hollow noted. He looked at the girls. "But you knew that too, didn't you?"

"If you had looked at the sky or had thought about asking when we were at camp, you would've known too." replied Kira. Hollow sighed.

"Do we keep going or camp here?" inquired Evanz.

"We could camp but you wold have to take a penalty. Muscles takes penalties very seriously." said Celty. Hollow and Evanz shuddered. Muscles was one of the people Tom had enlisted to help with training. His name suggested what he looked like. With his shaved head, bulging muscles and angry expression, he wasn't someone you would want to annoy. Warmup for this exercise had been lead by him. It consisted of many laps, push-ups, and more push-ups. The two of them probably would've died of exhaustion if hadn't been for Shadow. She had walked past and noticed they were close to collapsing.

"Hey Muscles, you might wanna lighten up a bit. Don't want them dead before the exercise."

"Yes m'am!" He had shouted. Both Hollow and Evanz had been amazed that she could talk to him like that with out being beaten to a pulp. Hollow wasn't sure who was scarier, Muscles with is big stature and loud voice, or Shadow with her freezing glares and angry silence.

"So continue it is then." said Evanz with a sigh. They made it to the campsite before it stared raining. The next objective was to set up their tent. Both pairs had one to share. Celty and Kira had theirs setup before Hollow and Evanz had finished unpacking. The two sat inside their tent and watched the boys struggle to put the tent up, laughing when wipeouts occurred (Hollow was holding up a pole and when it stared falling, it took him with it) and at their confusion in general. The sky continued rumbling and had darkened to a gray so dark if was almost black. A bit more swearing and frustration later, the girls pointed out nothing forbade them from using their tent as a reference. Twenty minutes later, the tent was ready and the boys didn't get too wet.

Finally, he was alone. Shrimp hadn't been alone since he got here. There was the night, but he shared a tent and couldn't risk loosing their trust. The other boys had their training today so everyone was looking after them. He had passed their test with flying colours and he finally managed to slip away unnoticed. He was deep enough in the woods now that he could talk without anyone overhearing him. He turned on his mic which had miraculously not been damaged by his fall. There was a little delay before it came online.

"Hello, Sir?"

"Shrimp." There was surprise in the normally angry voice. "You're alive."

"Listen, I don't have much time. I managed to infiltrate the Rebels. They've heard about the attack sir, and are getting ready. About coming to you to disable your systems, they're leaving tomorrow. I know they need someone's help, and I think I know who it is. They probably have no idea where he is but I do. I've met him before. If I tell them I can lead them to him, I could go on the trip with them and report to you every night."

"This is great news. I had my doubts, but you've proven to be a great choice. When they come I will be ready. That Shadow girl and her stupid friends have no idea what they're up against. And as for Tom I'll pay him a little visit. To die at my hand is more than he deserves after what he did to me. Now don't fail me." Shrimp turned the mic off, ignoring the strange feeling in his stomach.

When all the training was done, everyone was deemed ready. Well, everyone except Rage (who annoyed everyone with his cockiness and bad puns so much that no one wanted to train him) and there were enough fighters they he would be safe. Tom had ordered another meeting, but this time with Shrimp, Kira and Celty. They sat at the base of maple tree and talked while they waited for Tom. Shrimp looked a little nervous for some reason. Tom came with Endless by his side. He sat down and she draped herself around his shoulders, her favourite spot. She watched the meeting with a curious green gaze.

"Alright, everything has been prepared for tomorrow. All we need to know is what the four of you plan to do." he looked at Rage and the gang, waiting for an answer.

"We'll go with Shadow. We could probably be of more assistance there. Here we would just be in everyone's way."replied Fluke. Tom nodded.

"You'll need someone's help though. He is called the Master, also known as Curaxu." Tom's voice wavered briefly on that name. "He probably knows where Timothy's lair is. The only problem though is that no one knows where he is. It could take days to find him." Shrimp cleared his throat.

"I do." This granted him a suspicious look from Tom, but he continued. "It's really easy to find him in Minecraft. He lives in a giant castle. It's really hard not to miss."

"And you know this how?" said Tom raising his eyebrows.

"Duke had seen it and thought it would be fun to raid. He was smart enough to send two people to scout ahead. They never came back." this wasn't really a lie. He told himself. He was just omitting some details.

"So it's settled then. You'll go with Shadow." Shrimp nodded. The meeting was over.

Tom was walking back to his tent, when there was tap on his shoulder. It was Shadow.

"I think we should keep an eye on Shrimp. I noticed that he was not telling us something about how he knew the Master. That's not the only thing. He had disappeared for twenty minutes while everyone was helping with the training. He said he had been practicing, but he wasn't sweaty. No one can practice for twenty minutes and not break a sweat. Well, except Muscles, but that guy is crazy ripped and probably not human." Tom smiled.

"And that's why you're my second in command. I'll look into him."

Shrimp ducked behind a tent and peered around it. Shadow had been talking to Celty but stopped suddenly . She was so close that he could've reached out and touched her.

"What?" asked Celty. Shadow shook her head and continued walking.

"I thought I saw something." Shrimp sighed with relief. He had heard her conversation with Tom. The Rebels were not as stupid as Timothy had said. He wold have to be more careful so they didn't distrust him completely and kick him out. Or worse, kill him. He turned and walked back to his tent so he could get ready for tomorrow.


	3. The Crazy Wolf Girl

Shadow glanced worriedly at the sky. The clouds weren't dark with rain, but a strange yellow-green.

"You're not thinking what I'm thinking, right?" asked Celty.

"I hope it's nothing. We'll have to keep monitoring the sky just in case." said Shadow with a frown. They were making ok progress. They had been walking for what seemed like ages, Rage complaining almost every step of the way. What was learned though was that if you didn't react, he would stop after a little while, so everyone did their best to ignore him. After a few more minutes, the group stopped for lunch in a little clearing. There were plenty of trees to provide shade and a small stream bubbled over rocks. The group sat under a massive oak by the water. Pre-made sandwiches were passed around and water bottles were refilled with the water from the stream. Everyone was reminded to put the purifying tablets in first then wait for a half hour. Suddenly, the forest went quiet. The birds stopped chirping, the bugs stopped making their various noises. Even the monsters had disappeared.

"Everyone cleanup NOW." ordered Shadow, who was rushing about, trying to get everything packed up again.

"I don't see why you're all so worried. It's only a little wind." said Rage. He then looked at the odd pallor of the clouds, and noticed they were starting to swirl into a funnel.

"We have only minutes until it touches ground." said Shadow,swinging her pack onto her shoulders.

"So where are we gonna stay? We can't camp, and its too late to go back." said Kira.

"There's a cave nearby. The person who lives there won't mind if we stay." Shadow didn't look too happy about going to the cave.

"The person in the cave can't be that bad, right?" said Celty. Shadow pretended she didn't hear this.

"We can be there in about 10 minutes if we walk."

"We don't have 10 minutes." said Hollow, looking at the tornado. It had touched ground already and seemed to be headed in their direction.

"So run." was all Shadow said.

Running for five minutes straight is hard. No imagine you're running uphill with a not so light backpack, in the pouring rain, through a forest, while a tornado is chasing you. And you thought gym class was hard. So needless to say, some of the group was lagging behind. Namely Rage, who somehow still had the energy to complain, swear, and make horrible puns.

"Water we doing running through rain?"

"When we get to Timothy's lair, we're going to storm the place."

"Running while its windy isn't a breeze."

"Does he ever run out?" asked Shadow, looking at Hollow.

"If you're lucky." he replied.

"I'm trying to think of a pun with a tornado, but I can't." said Rage.

"Good." said Shadow, relieved. She spotted a small tunnel. "In here." she said. She didn't look too happy to be here. Everyone made it safely inside. "We'll have to stay here until the tornado leaves. It's too risky otherwise." The cave was big and roomy. There were multiple tunnels leading to various places, and there was a small pond inside the cave. The odd thing was, there was nothing that suggested someone lived here. A bark came from one of the tunnels and two wolves ran out. One was big and black, obviously a male and the other was slender and white, a female. The two didn't seem hostile, but friendly. More like dogs than wolves. The pair trotted over to Shadow who pet them.

"The black one is the alpha male named Yin and white one is the alpha female, Yang." said Shadow. The wolves went around and greeted everyone. It was probably a good thing that Endless had decided to stay with Tom at camp because other animals tended to be afraid of her. No one knew why.

"I thought you said someone lived here?" asked Fluke.

"Someone does." said Shadow with a frown. "Meg? You there?" Shadow was half hoping she wasn't, but answering call shattered her hope.

"Is it really you?" the voice was young and female. A girl about 13 emerged from one of the caves, followed by the rest of the wolf pack. She had wild uncombed black curls and eyes that seemed to be bright, yet missing something at the same time."Simmy!" She cried and gave Shadow hug that she tried unsuccessfully to dodge. "Simr-"

"That's not my name anymore. It's Shadow now." she said with a frown.

"Who is this?" asked Kira.

"Did she not tell you?" said Meg. She smiled at Shadow who tried to blend into the darkness she was named after. "That's my sister." Celty and Kira exchanged surprised looks. They had known she had a sister but by her demeanor, they had thought she was dead.

"We'll be staying here for the night." said Shadow. Meg looked at their group. Shrimp was shuffling (it seemed he was always on edge). Her eyes moved from Celty to Kira to her sister then came to rest on the group. She let out an excited squeal.

"I know you guys! You're the Youtube people!" she walked closer to them. She looked at all of them and her eyes came to rest on Fluke. His hair was sticking up in a million different places. She looked at it. "I like you hair." She said. Fluke was about to say 'thanks, I grew it my self' when she started petting his head. "Soft . Like a puppy." Fluke, looking a little weirded out, took a step back. Meg blinked, then whirled around suddenly. "I know you'd come Sim! The wolves told me you wouldn't but I said you would! Make yourself at home." she gestured at the cave they were in. "Sleep anywhere. I'm just down this tunnel." she disappeared into the tunnel to their far left, the wolves following her.

Shadow sighed. Looking a little embarrassed, she apologized to Fluke for her sister's behavior.

"What's wrong with her? Is she mentally challenged or something?" asked Rage bluntly. Fluke, Evanz and Hollow glared at him.

"It's alright. It's a long story. She wasn't always like this but Timothy managed to his hands on her. It was payback for something I did. My sister had to pay for that something I did." Shadow's face closed like a door, suggesting that no more questions about the topic were welcome. Whatever happened must've been bad enough to leave a permeant scar on her. Then again, it seemed no one was without one. Even Celty and Kira were slightly guarded. When they were done setting up, Meg came back, this time without her wolves.

They sat by a fire that had been built up. The tornado had passed, but it was late and there was no point risking monster attacks, so they were staying here for the night. Stories were told by the firelight. Shadows sister gave them all a dog breed (she loves dogs). Evanz was a Sheepdog (sorry Evanz!). Everyone was laughing and telling stories. Shadow noticed the glint of metal in the corner of her eye. She moved to draw her sword, but it was too late. The metal sparked, then buried itself Meg's stomach. The girl fell silent, her face frozen in surprise, hands clawing at the sword in her chest. She collapsed. Her eyes closed then she vanished in a shimmer of light. The only thing hinting at her existence was a pool of ruby red blood. The group turned around. They were surrounded by rogue Hacks.

Shadow narrowed her eyes and was about to give these people a piece of her mind when suddenly a loud, angry growl sounded from one of the tunnels. The wolves came pounding out, eyes ablaze and furious, mouths slavering and growling like no tomorrow. They pounced on the Rogues, a blur of deadly claws and teeth. The Hacks ran for their lives and some of the wolves followed, making sure they never came back. Yin and Yang sniffed the pool of blood, pawed at it and whimpered. They then howled. It sounded like "Come back! You can't leave us!" All the other wolves joined in. Shadow's lips were set in a thin line.

"I'm sorry." whispered Evanz.

"It's all right. Everyone has a certain number of lives, and she disappeared. That means she didn't loose them all. She probably respawned in a different place." No one was in a celebrating mood, so the fire was doused and everyone went to sleep.

Shrimp slipped out of the cave while everyone else was asleep.

"Sir?"

"Ah, Shrimp. Did the Rebels like that little surprise? One of the Hacks died though. How unfortunate."

"That was you?" Shrimp was surprised. How did Timothy know where he was when he hasn't told him?

"There's a tracker in every mic so I know when people are lying to me. How far are you?"

"Not very. We should be there by tomorrow if its minecraft."

"I can do that. I'll change the game now." and the mic was offline.

"What are you doing outside?" Said a voice behind him. Celty. His heat was pounding. She might've heard the conversation. But when he turned around, there was only curiosity in the girl's eyes. He relaxed.

"I couldn't sleep." was all he said.

"Me neither." she said with a smile. Suddenly, the dark sky blazed to life. It looked like fire was streaking across it. Shrimp looked alarmed. Celty laughed.

"Those are phoenixes. They come out at night and they put on flight shows." the fire suddenly dove downwards, then leveled out. They were close enough that he could see the dark forms of birds engulfed in flame. There were about three of them. They opened their wings and soared again, trailing fire.

Everyone woke in the morning to Rage screaming "Holy shit, that's a big castle!" Shadow moaned.

"When everyone wants to sleep, you're awake, and when everyone is awake, you want to sleep." she looked outside. The sun was barely touching the horizon. "Might as well get up. There's less monsters at dawn." The first thing everyone noticed is that it was minecraft. And like Rage said, there was a huge castle, its spires scraping the sky.

"It will take over an hour to get there, so lets get moving!"

Rage complained less this time and the walk was actually pleasant. They arrived at the doors which were big and black. It had a golden border and a gold C in the middle, split in half by the crack between the doors. There was a gold button by the door, which Fluke assumed was the doorbell. He pressed it, and a loud chime was heard.

"Dude, that button could've dropped us into a pit of lava for all you know." said Rage and Fluke ignored him.

"That would stop people from trying to loot me." said an amused voice behind them. They turned around. Curaxu was wearing a mask. It was black with a gold border and a golden C in the middle, like the doors. It was a full face mask, so only the dark glint of his eyes were visible.

"Dude, what's with the mask?" asked Rage. Curaxu didn't seem bothered by the question.

"I had a little accident with an acid-spitting monster. I could take the mask off if you like..."

"Um, no thanks." said Rage.

"Tom sent you, right? Probably something about finding Timothy's lair." asked Curaxu, looking at the girls whom looked surprised.

"How did you know?" asked Kira.

"Tom didn't tell you, did he? We were friends once. Tom, Timothy and I." Rage blinked in surprise.

"Plot twist!" he exclaimed. Curaxu chuckled.

"Plot twist indeed."

They had been invited inside and now sat on chairs by a fire (burning netherrack) because Curaxu had said the story was a long one. The inside of the castle was massive, the ceiling disappearing into the gloom. It was lit with glowstone. Curaxu sat back in his chair.

"I went to university with the two of them." he began. "Timothy was insanely smart. He had many girlfriends and at one time decided to cheat on one. She was a nice girl and would probably be devastated if she learnt about this the hard way. So Tom and I told her. She was in tears. She didn't want to believe us. One day, Tim left his phone at her apartment. She decided to look at it and found pictures of him kissing an other girl. She screamed at him when he returned form his 'work' and left him. Timothy pretended to forgive us, but I think he never did. He made the Virtual Reality not only because of us, but because he had been bullied a lot as a kid and he wanted to feel that kind of power. And as for where he lives-" he gestured at Shrimp. "He can tell you."

Shrimp suddenly paled. Before he could even move, Celty was pinning him to the ground. She viciously pulled his left sleeve up and moved out of the way so everyone could see the black tattoo of crossed swords over a crown: the symbol of the Loyals.

"I can explain." said Shrimp in a shaky voice. "I had to. I didn't like the things he told me to do, but I had to."

"And why is that?" Shadow snapped, glaring daggers at Shrimp who flinched.

"Because Timothy is my brother."

"Ohhhh, snap! Another plot twist!" Rage exclaimed.

Shadow glared at Rage, turned back to Shrimp and said "The Hacks. You sent them."

"No. It turns out Timothy put a tracker in my mic."

"Let's destroy it then." suggested Celty.

"No!" shouted Shrimp. "He'll know that you found me out and will kill you before you even have the chance to try and stop him." Kira raised her eyebrows.

"You'd betray him for us?"

"Yes." he said without hesitation. Celty still looked suspicious.

"How do we know you're not just pretending to be a double agent?"

"I hate what my brother does and I have always wanted to put a stop to it. Before you do anything, there's something else you need to know. The camp's in danger. Timothy wants to get his revenge in Tom and Curaxu." Cura's masked face stared impassively at Shrimp while the three Rebel girls paled.

"We have to go back and help Tom and Endless!" cried Celry. Shadow exchanged a grim look with Kira.

"The camp is too far. We'll never make it in time."

"I'll go to your camp." volunteered Curaxu. "I've been wanting to see Tom for ages. He no doubt is blaming himself for what happened to my face. My weapons could also use a work out." The exhausted bunch slept at Curaxu's castle for the night, knowing that some of them might give up their lives for the freedom of others.


End file.
